WinFS, MBF and 'Integrated Innovation'

I wonder how responsible MBF is on WinFS delay. I have the feeling that quite a lot. If WinFS scope was to be 'just' a file system over a relational database where you can find things quickly, I think it would still be in Longhorn.

The MBF team has a lot of power. They can influence the way WinFS is designed to it fits their needs. They are not using WinFS as a component, they are integrating with it at the source code level. This is very different from the way these kinds of applications were built previously. When ISVs built applications on Microsoft platforms, they used the platform as a component. They had to learn the limitations and find ways to make things work. When the Windows version changed, the applications usually continued working. That's the way Great Plains and a lot of other ERP like applications were built.

This means WinFS will be tightly coupled with MBF. Is this a good or a bad thing? We can't be sure. Platforms components usually need to be tightly coupled. The question is if MBF should be part of the platform.

Rick Chapman, in 'In Search of Stupidity' says that Microsoft survived because it was the only company that never made a fatal, stupid mistake.

Would the whole MBF/MBS thing be the fatal one?

PS: Of course, perhaps MBF is not related at all with WinFS delay, but anyway this post was fun to write ;).